17 minute read
JUN YE
A US Based Start-up Focusing on Consumer Robots
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TECHNOVATERS
JUN YE
CEO, Moorebot
A US based start-up, Pilot Lab has recently introduced Moorebot, a robot brand. Moorebot is an interactive intellectual assistant that is best for home automation, housekeeping, baby companion, voice-activated service, and more. It also provides cutting-edge robot-assisted products and services in STEM, language learning, and even rehabilitation programs for special children in hospitals. During an interaction with Nitisha, Jun Ye, CEO, Moorebot shares that the company is committed to improving everyone’s life quality with exclusive smart robots that are versatile, personalized, content-rich, and helpful.
QPlease explain Moorebot and Pilot Labs. How do you define your company differently from others?
Pilot Labs is the company and Moorebot is the robot brand. Pilot Labs was founded by several semiconductor veterans. The company is very focused on underline technologies. Besides making consumer robot products, the company is investing in some long term technologies. For example, we are developing experimental analog neural network ICs, which we think could become the instinct response system for robots in the future.
QHow does Moorebot make Robots more affordable and ‘sensible’ in the real world?
Home robots still have a long way to go. Besides technology readiness, the cost is also a key factor for consumer robots. That means fewer and less costly sensors, low-end CPUs, and GPUs. Moorebot’s team has put a lot of effort into the optimizing of AI algorithms, to achieve good results based on low-end hardware platforms.
QWhat are your latest projects and what are your plans to make it popular?
Our current robot is an autonomous mobile robot (AMR) for the home. It is fun and quite useful. Besides monitoring and autopatrol functions, it supports Scratch programming, suitable for kids learning robotics. We are gaining a lot of interest around the world. It is an open-source project. We are enabling robot lovers and application developers to program Scout to do much more with it. help people and can get widely accepted by consumer is quite challenging. It is all about applications.
QWhat are your marketing strategies? Please explain your further plans to improve everyone's quality of life with exclusive smart robots?
We see robots can play crucial roles in daily life to help people. In the future, a robot will be a platform product and capable of doing many different tasks. However, we are still in a very early stage of the AI era. It is more realistic today to make a robot specifically to do one particular job. The key value of the product must be communicated with the consumer properly and efficiently.
QHow was the year 2019 in terms of business? And what are your plans for the year ahead?
Technologies evolve at a rapid pace. We will continue developing and integrating state-of-art technologies into our products. Also, we will be expanding into different applications.
Designing a consumer robot that truly can help people and also get widely accepted by them is quite challenging, nowadays
QWhat are the key design challenges faced? How does Moorebot plan to ease and accelerate the design of Robotics Technology?
We all think robots are the future. However, to date, besides vacuum cleaning robots, the applications of home robots are still rare. How to design a consumer robot that truly can
QApart from house chores and children, are you planning to target any other sector?
Moorebot is primarily focused on consumer robot products. On the technology side, we do have collaboration on commercial robots, mainly AMRs (autonomous mobile robots).
QMajor focus and roadmap for the year 2021?
We have several home robots in planning. More importantly, we are developing technologies that can make robots more sensible and interactive.
QDuring Covid-19 there was a huge economical breakdown. How Moorebot coped up with such situations?
Our business is hurt as well. That allowed us to put more effort on R&D for new robots. We hope 2021 is a good year for everyone.
Siemens Mobility and Infineon Technologies have collaborated to establish new auxiliary converters for various train platforms, to improve the efficiency of onboard power systems using power semiconductors based on silicon carbide (SiC). Siemens Mobility uses the new converter for various train platforms. As a result, the platforms are maintenance-friendly, reliable, economical and, above all, powerefficient. In addition to providing the AC voltage (e.g., 3 AC 400 V 50 Hz) required for the vehicle power system, auxiliary converters also deliver the required battery voltage (e.g., 110 V DC). To achieve this, they convert the DC voltage provided at the converter input. They ensure that train passengers can charge laptops and smartphones; the air conditioning and ventilation systems are running, and the onboard restaurant can offer hot and cold drinks and food. Without them, connectivity, information or entertainment services on trains would not be available. As part of the system, SiC reduces the overall costs in the on-board electrical system and the energy consumption of the auxiliary converter. It also enables more compact and lighter converter designs, along with a modular and service-friendly design to ensure lower maintenance costs.
Microchip’s PolarFire FPGAs Now Available in Volume Western Digital Declares V-WA 50 Awards
Microchip Technology has started shipping PolarFire FPGAs qualified for both the Automotive Electronics Council Q100 specification Grade T2 and military temperature grade in volume production quantities. These offerings extend Microchip’s low-power leadership as a supplier of FPGAs for diverse high-reliability markets. With their thermal and space design constraints, automotive, industrial and military applications deployed in harsh environments require solutions that offer power and space efficiency as well as cryptographic security. PolarFire FPGAs offer on-chip security features that enable secure communication, an encrypted bitstream, and a cryptographically secured supply chain, ensuring tamperproof solutions for these market segments.
Unlike SRAM-based FPGAs, Microchip devices can operate without fans and in some cases without heatsinks, simplifying the thermal design of the system and creating new opportunities for smaller, lighter designs.
This is especially important in automotive applications such as blind-spot detection, lane change warning systems and backup cameras. Western Digital has declared the 'V-WA 50' awards in partnership with the Vedica Women's Alliance to amplify the voices of women leaders. Under this initiative, 50 professionals will be awarded for their contributions. This includes senior women professionals across various fields and men who have advocated for inclusion in their organizations. “We are excited to introduce the 'V-WA 50' to further augment the voices of women leaders and shine much-deserved spotlights on them. Celebrating Women at the top of their organizations inspires young girls and working professionals to emulate them. This is a sine qua non-intervention and change to help create better-balanced gender diversity roadmaps,” said Supria Dhanda, Vice President and Country Manager, India, Western Digital. "I am confident that the 'V-WA 50' will empower women leaders across the country and catalyze the next generation of upcoming leaders, bringing in a new change in the ecosystem," she added. “Women are 50% of the population, make invaluable contributions in the world, and, increasingly, in their workplaces – but remain under-recognized and unsung. With ‘V-WA 50’, we are committed to changing this and ‘making women visible’. By presenting strong role models for the generations to come, we will set the wheels of change in motion, irreversibly,” said Anuradha Das Mathur, Founder of the Vedica Women’s Alliance and the Founder and Dean of the Vedica Scholars Programme for Women. The application forms are available and will remain open till May 2021. An online award ceremony will be hosted by the end of June 2021.
ST Details of Common Share Repurchase Program Micron’s New Senior VP & GM
STMicroelectronics has published the full details of its common share repurchase program. The Program was approved by a shareholder resolution dated May 31, 2018, and by the supervisory board. STMicroelectronics has announced the repurchase on the regulated market of Euronext Paris, in the period between February 22, 2021, to February 26, 2021 of 388,291 ordinary shares (equal to 0.04% of its issued share capital) at the weighted average purchase price per share of EUR 32.7865 and for an overall price of EUR 12,730,718.07. The Company holds in total 8,518,495 treasury shares, which represents approximately 0.9% of the Company’s issued share capital. Under Article 5(1)(b) of Regulation (EU), and Article 2(3) of Commission Delegated Regulation (EU), a full breakdown of the individual trades in the program are disclosed at ST website. Micron Technology has appointed Raj Hazra as Senior Vice President and General Manager of Micron’s Compute and Networking Business Unit.
Hazra succeeds Tom Eby, who plans to retire following more than a decade of leadership at Micron. Eby will serve as a senior advisor to the company during the interim and will remain with Micron through April. Hazra has over 20 years of technology leadership experience. He joined Micron in June 2020 as the senior vice president of Strategy and Communications.
Before that, Hazra served as the Corporate Vice President and General Manager of the enterprise and government group at Intel, where he held multiple technical and business leadership roles and managed multi-billion-dollar P&L for its high-performance data center solutions.
Before starting at Intel in 1995, he spent five years with the Lockheed Corporation based at NASA’s Langley Research Center.
Hazra earned a doctorate in computer and information sciences and a master’s degree in computer science from William & Mary University and holds 16 patents.
Indium to Present Low-Temp Alloy Durafuse LT
Indium Corporation has recently started featuring the awardwinning Durafuse LT–the novel, low-temperature alloy system designed to provide high-reliability in low-temperature applications–during Productronica China, held March 17-19 in Shanghai, China.
Durafuse LT is one of several products in Indium Corporation’s wide portfolio that meet the evolving needs of mobile and computing applications.
Patent-pending Durafuse LT is designed to provide highreliability in low-temperature applications that need to reflow below 210°C.
Where traditional low-temperature solders can produce brittle solder joints that are susceptible to drop shock failures, Durafuse LT provides superior drop shock resilience, outclassing BiSn or BiSnAg alloys, and performing better than SAC305 with optimum process setup. Features: • Provides a solution for heat-sensitive components and flex polymers • Prevents thermal warpage of processor components and multilayer boards • Meets low-temperature requirements for step soldering, particularly in RF shield attachment, post underfill processes and rework applications
From paste to wire, flux, and preforms, Durafuse LT joins a long list of Indium Corporation’s products that are specifically engineered to support the challenges of automotive electrification.
Fujitsu, Kyoto University Develop AI Verification System
Fujitsu Limited and Kyoto University research group have established an AI verification system called "MGeND Intelligence” led by Professor Yasushi Okuno of the Kyoto University Graduate School of Medicine. . When the genetic mutation information of a patient is input into this system, its ability to cause disease is estimated by pathogenicity estimation AI using machine learning technology and the explanatory text of the basis of this finding is generated and displayed together with the estimated result by the explainable AI. This explanation offers a useful reference to doctors who are considering a treatment plan or genomic medical researchers. Working with the Integrated Database of Clinical and Genomic Information, "MGeND," which was made public by Kyoto University in 2018, Fujitsu supports the research and clinical interpretation of genetic mutations, including mutations with unknown pathogenicity, by medical professionals and researchers. Since November 2016, Fujitsu and Kyoto University have been participating in the Integrated Database of Clinical and Genomic Information Program promoted by the Japan Agency for Medical Research and Development, engaging in research and development to support the work of medical professionals and researchers in examining genetic mutations with AI and machine learning technologies. Fujitsu and Kyoto University have now developed an AI system that can estimate the presence or absence of disease-causing potential for unknown genetic mutations and explain the basis for this finding. Kyoto University will make MGeND Intelligence available to joint researchers and collaborating institutions.
Honeywell, Syracuse University to Develop Air Quality Tech Bosch All Set to Launch Chip Factory in 2021
Honeywell has formed a research partnership with Syracuse University to fund research on emerging indoor air quality technologies.
The partnership will include the naming of a Honeywell Indoor Air Quality Laboratory at Syracuse University's College of Engineering and Computer Science which will be used by researchers to help create healthier and safer building environments.
The Honeywell Indoor Air Quality Lab at Syracuse University will be used to solve several research objectives to determine the impact of air quality on human productivity and creativity.
Faculty will use the lab to conduct direct, side-by-side comparisons of next-generation indoor air quality improvement technologies and advanced building systems, in a controlled practical building environment, to provide a comparative analysis of the technologies based on key IAQ parameters measured by sensors and through AI-driven HVAC controls. The research will include characterizing and evaluating IAQ sensors. The research will help to building owners and operators better determine the right technologies to meet specific building conditions and goals.
Additionally, the research will develop artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms for dynamic ventilation management. Bosch has confirmed the launch of its new semiconductor factory in Dresden, Germany by the end of 2021. It is a milestone on the path to the chip factory of the future for German Tier 1 supplier Bosch, as its new semiconductor fab in Dresden, Germany silicon wafers are passing through the fully automated fabrication process for the first time. Harald Kroeger, members of the board of management, Robert Bosch: “Chips for tomorrow’s mobility solutions and greater safety on our roads will soon be produced in Dresden. We plan to open our chip factory in the future before the year is out.” Manufacturing of automotive microchips will be a primary focus when Bosch’s fully digital and highly connected semiconductor plant is up and running. The company already operates a semiconductor fab in Reutlingen near Stuttgart. The new wafer fab in Dresden is Bosch’s response to the surging number of areas of application for semiconductors. Tier 1 is investing around a billion euros (Rs 8,267 crore) in the high-tech manufacturing facility, which is said to be one of the most advanced wafer fabs in the world. Funding for the new building is being provided by the federal German government, and more specifically the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy. Bosch plans to officially open its wafer fab in June 2021. In January 2021, Bosch began putting its first wafers through the fabrication process in Dresden. From there, the company will make power semiconductors for use in applications such as DC-DC converters in electric and hybrid vehicles.
Infineon’s New StrongIRFET 2 Power MOSFETs
Infineon Technologies has released StrongIRFET 2, the new generation of power MOSFET technology in 80 V and 100 V.
Features:
• Featuring broad availability at distribution partners and excellent price/performance ratio. • These MOSFETs are right-fit products an easy choice for designers interested in convenient selection and purchasing. • Optimized for both low- and high-switching frequencies.
Features:
• Offering working voltages to 3000 V. • The stability of 1.0 %, and power ratings up to 1.0 W. • Available in five compact case sizes ranging from 1206 to 2512. • Enable designers to reduce component counts, placement costs, and PCB size.
Applications:
SMPS, motor drives, batterypowered tools, battery management, UPS and light electric vehicles.
Availability:
The new portfolio will be available in various packages continuing with TO-220 FullPAK, D2PAK, D2PAK 7-pin and DPAK.
ST’s New Current-Sense Amplifiers
STMicroelectronics launches three precision high-voltage bi-directional current-sense amplifiers that provide the extra convenience of a Shutdown pin to maximize energy savings.
Features:
• Leveraging their precision characteristics to select low sense-resistor values. • The offset voltage is within ±200µV at 25°C, with less than 5µV/°C drift, and gain accuracy is within 0.3%, • Detects a voltage drop as low as 10mV full-scale to provide consistently and trusted measurements.
Applications:
Gives the flexibility to build precision current measurement, overcurrent protection, current monitoring, and current-feedback circuits for many different industrial and automotive systems.
Availability:
Available Now
Vishay New High Voltage Chip Resistors
Vishay Intertechnology has released a new series of AEC-Q200 qualified high voltage thick film chip resistors.
Applications:
Ideal for battery management and voltage monitoring, division, and regulation in power inverters and high voltage power supplies for automotive, industrial, and medical applications.
Availability:
Available Now
Samsung Introduces 980 NVMe SSD
Samsung Electronics has released 980 NVMe SSD, the company’s first consumer drive without DRAM.
Features:
• Blazing NVMe speeds more accessible to a wider range of users. • Samsung’s 980 utilizes Host Memory Buffer (HMB) technology • Links the drive directly to the host processor’s DRAM to overcome any performance drawbacks. • Provide NVMe performance with six times the speed of SATA SSDs.
Applications:
Laptops
Availability:
Available Now
Mitsubishi Electric to Launch MeIDIR Sensor
Mitsubishi Electric Corporation has declared to release its Mitsubishi Electric Diode InfraRed (MelDIR) sensor lineup.
Features:
• Wide field of view and high-pixel resolution • Superior images achieved with faster frame rate and optimized sensitivity correction • User-support tools shorten development time
Applications:
Security, heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC), people counting, smart buildings and thermal scanners
Availability:
Available on July 1.
Renesas’ New Power and Functional Safety Solution
Renesas Electronics has presented a new power and functional safety solution for systems based on the R-Car V3H system-on-chip (SoC) for advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) automotive front cameras and driver monitor cameras.
Features:
• Programmable Output Voltage, Sequencing, I/O Configuration and Safety Configuration providing flexibility to support R-CAR V3H and an expansive range of SoCs • Integrated 12-bit SAR ADC with up to 16 external inputs monitors internal and external signals, eliminating the need for an added system ADC
Applications:
Advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) automotive front cameras and driver monitor cameras.
Availability:
Available Now
New Coreless Hall Effect Current Sensor
Allegro MicroSystems has launched a new coreless Hall-effect current sensor for demanding automotive and industrial systems, offering higher accuracy and sensitivity, additional fault detection capabilities, and user programmability.
Features:
• Measure currents from 100 A to greater than 4000 A flowing through a busbar or PCB trace with a typical 1 percent accuracy. • No need for an external concentrator or U-shaped magnetic shield.
Applications:
Electric vehicle high-voltage traction motor inverters, 48V / 12V auxiliary inverters, heterogeneous redundant battery monitoring, overcurrent detection, smart fuses, power distribution units (PDUs), and power supplies.
Availability:
Available Now
Toshiba’s New LDO Regulators
Toshiba Electronic Devices & Storage Corporation has released the “TCR5RG series” of 45 LDO regulators, all housed in a thin, compact WCSP4F package.
Features:
• High ripple rejection ratio : R.R.=100dB (typ.) @f=1kHz • Low output noise voltage: VNO=5μVrms (typ.) @10Hz≤f≤100kHz • High output voltage accuracy : • VOUT min/max= -1.5/1.5% @1.8V≤VOUT≤2.8V, Tj= -40 to 85°C • VOUT min/max= -1.8/1.8% @VOUT>2.8V, Tj= -40 to 85°C
Applications:
• Wearables (smart watches and action cameras, etc.) • Mobile (smartphones, tablets and portable audio players, etc.) • Healthcare (electric shavers, electronic sphygmomanometers and blood glucose meters, etc.)
Availability:
Available Now
